For the first time, a black hole has been pictured spewing powerful jets.
The image shows a glowing circle known as the center of the galaxy Messier 87 (M87), about 55 million light-years away from Earth.
A light-year is the distance light travels in one year, or 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion kilometers).
Emerging from the black hole is a large bright jet connected to the matter swirling around it.
Scientists pieced together the picture using data collected from more than a dozen telescopes around the world.
“This new image completes the picture by simultaneously showing the region around the black hole and the jet,” said Jae-Young Kim from Kyungpook National University in South Korea and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Germany.
The M87 black hole is supermassive, 6.5 billion times the mass of the Sun, and is larger and brighter than our Milky Way galaxy.
It was first captured four years ago as a fluffy, flaming, donut-shaped object, but not its jet.
But astronomers, using data from 14 telescopes as far away as Greenland and Chile, have created an image of M87’s black hole that shows a powerful jet emerging from its shadow — the dark region is overshadowed by bright Aura surrounded.
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This ring is formed by very hot matter swirling around the black hole.
A black hole is a celestial body with such a strong gravitational pull that no matter or light can escape.
The European Southern Observatory said the current image was obtained using longer wavelength radio light, which makes the jet visible.
“At this wavelength, we can see how jets emerge from the emission ring around the central supermassive black hole,” said Thomas Krichbaum from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy.
The researchers say they will continue to study how supermassive black holes spew powerful jets — one of the most mysterious features of the Milky Way.
Eduardo Ros from the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy said: “We plan to observe the region around the central black hole of M87 at different radio wavelengths to further study the jet emission.
“This simultaneous observation will allow the team to unravel the complex processes that occur near the supermassive black hole.
“The next few years will be exciting as we’ll be able to learn more about what’s going on near one of the most mysterious regions in the universe.”
These observations are described in the journal Nature.